Aber Leads Tigers To First Place Finish From Wabash Invitational
Indianapolis, IN – The No. 10 Wittenberg men's golf team captured their second first place finish of the Fall campaign. With all five Tigers cracking the top 10, Wittenberg posted a 54-hole score of 869 (+5), from Broadmoor Country Club. Wittenberg posted rounds of 298-276-295. As a team, Wittenberg set a new one-round record, in the second-round from the par-72, 6900-yard course, carding a score of 276. This beats the program best of 278 set in 2015 at the Paradise Point Golf Club from Jacksonville, N.C. As a team, this is the largest margin of victory Wittenberg has posted since the NCAC Championships in 2017, when the differential was 40-strokes over Allegheny.
Led by JF Aber, carding rounds of 72-67-75 for a three-round score of 214 (-2). Aber opened the weekend with a 72, posting four birdies along the way, including two back-to-back on holes 17 and 18. Aber was in the groove, heading back out for his second round on day one of competition. The junior tallied two birdies on the front-nine, adding four more on the back-nine. Aber closed out the round going birdie-eagle-birdie, to finish five-under at 67.
Leading the way for part of the first day, Evan DiSanto earned a T2 finish with a three-day score of 218 (+2). With back-to-back rounds under-par, DiSanto carded six birdies through his opening 18-holes of play. With an opening round 70 (-1), DiSanto kept the momentum rolling into round two. Adding four birdies to his count through the final 18-holes of competition, DiSanto held onto second-place with a 36-hole score of 141. Coming in with a final-round score of 77 (+5), DiSanto captured his highest individual finish of the 2022-23 season.
Matthew Mattioli was right alongside DiSanto, earning a T2 finish with a 54-hole score of 218 (+2). Climbing just one spot after day one, Mattioli sat in third-place after two-rounds of action, posting an opening round of 76 and bouncing back with a second-round of 70. Mattioli finished the weekend, coming in at 72 (E). With 7 of 8 birdies over his final two rounds. Mattioli carded an eagle and a birdie on the par-five 17th, in rounds two and three.
Josh Wright jumped eight places on the final day of competition. Opening the competition with an 80 (+8), Wright responded with back-to-back rounds of even-par golf carding rounds of 72. Wright secured his second top five finish of the year, posting a 54-hole score of 224 (+8) for a fifth-place finish. Earlier this year, Wright finished T2 competing as an individual at the Ted Barclay Invitational.
Nicklaus Pidgeon rounded out the top 10 finishers for the Wittenberg team effort. Coming off an NCAC Athlete of the Week performance at the NCAA DIII Preview, Pidgeon finished in T7 position overall, capturing his second consecutive top 10 finish. With an opening round of 82, Pidgeon found himself on the upswing, finishing with a 68 (-4) before going on to post a 76 (+4) in his final round. With five birdies through his second 18-holes, Pidgeon closed out the first day going birdie-eagle-birdie over the final three holes. With back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth hole, Pidgeon would go on to add two more birdies over the back-nine.
Wittenberg will return to action on October 16-17, hosting The Wittenberg Classic from Springfield Country Club.